One of Intel's earlier efforts was Viiv, a platform that included hardware and software technologies to bring TV to PCs. Intel's aspirations to enter the TV space date back to the late 1990s, but many of those efforts were not successful, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64. More homes have high-definition television sets, online video is garnering more attention and broadband is easily available, which was not the case earlier in the decade. 'I don't think all the pieces were in place as they are today,' Martis said. With Google, Sony and Logitech, Intel is getting the best hardware and software providers to push its chips into living rooms, said Wilfred Martis, general manager for retail consumer electronics at Intel's Digital Home Group.

The chips are in production, and the company has said it has received orders for more than a million CE4100 chips. The chip includes a processor core that can run at clock speeds of up to 1.2GHz and is capable of decoding two 1080p video streams. Intel has been trying to woo major TV makers and consumer electronics companies to use the latest Atom CE4100 chip. There are cheaper television sets that provide standard Web interfaces that could compete with Google TV offerings, which could affect Intel's efforts to re-establish itself in the market. The cost of Intel chips is also considered comparatively higher than its competition, which could increase TV prices, analysts said. Previous efforts by Intel and former partners to shift TV content into PCs were rejected by consumers, and now the company is changing tactics to get Internet content into TV sets, set-top boxes and DVD players. Intel's microprocessors power more than 80% of the computers worldwide, but the company has yet to establish a presence in the TV space, despite multiple attempts to enter the market over the past decade, analysts said. Google will supply the software, and the service will be available later this year in some Sony high-definition TVs and Blu-ray DVD players, for which Intel will supply the highly optimized Atom CE4100 chip. Google, along with partners Intel, Sony and Logitech announced on Thursday the Google TV platform, which will blend broadcast TV and Internet into one interface. Intel hopes to establish a larger presence in TVs and set-top boxes with the Google TV platform, but the company has to overcome major hurdles including past failures and pricing concerns, analysts said.

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